June 20, 2013

Washington-area Law School Deans Weigh in on Civil Rights

A panel of
Washington-area law school deans today discussed the ways their universities
engage students and the legal community on the issue of civil rights.

The Lawyers
Committee for Civil Rights Under Law hosted a legal symposium as part of its 50th anniversary celebration.

Okianer Dark, dean of Howard University School of Law
was on the panel with Alfreda Robinson, associate dean for trial advocacy at George Washington University
Law School and Shelly Broderick, dean of the University of the District
of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law. UDC law professor John Brittain, who
moderated the panel, began the discussion with a look at how schools instill social responsibility.

"For
Howard, civil rights and human rights are our agenda," Dark said.
"The mission is about social justice."

Robinson said
that George Washington University Law School recognizes students who donate the
most pro bono hours at graduation. "We believe that from the very start,
students have a responsibility to be social engineers," Robinson said.

Brittain, during
one exchange, asked Broderick if she thought the employment challenges facing
recent law school graduates made it harder for students to get involved with
social justice legal organizations.

"We all
know that there is a huge unmet need, not just among the most vulnerable, but
the most impoverished, but there is a huge need among the middle class and the
lower-middle class who need legal representation," Broderick said.
"So many of our students are figuring that out and learning how to
practice law through legal clinics and starting small and solo practices where
they offer low bono services."

The deans said
that they use real-world examples like the Trayvon Martin case, Hurricane
Katrina and the Occupy Wall Street movement to as a means to talk about civil
rights.